To add to this, I think it is important to keep in mind that what a museum or anybody else sees as a worthwhile message is very subjective. And through society’s biased lens this is often art by white cis men. Many of whom are seen as geniuses while being discriminatory or abusive to others, even in their message. But since the dominant culture is to only see these men as geniuses, their problematic behavior usually gets ignored. On the flipside, a lot of geniuses that aren’t white cis men are often completely left out and ignored. And this although their message is probably even more worthy of our attention because they actually experienced hardships that many white cis men never would have.
I don’t think it is a necessarily good idea to let museums have the choice alone what is a worthwhile message just because I don’t trust them to be reflective of the above. Museums should also be in dialogue with their community and what they deem worthwhile to present. (However this also opens the door to conservative bigots trying to prohibit anything remotely progressive.)
I’m not going to agree with you on this. I think it’s unfortunate that your focus is on the assumption that it’s a purely white and cis male dominated decision; without providing any evidence that the museum is run strictly by cis white men.
Furthermore, you focus on problematic behavior; which is important to document completely if we are trying to present that history in a complete and educational manner that allows us to avoid repeating past mistakes. There should be no room for censorship in education, because that’s how bigotry, racism and such will breed…in the shadows of ignorance that the censorship casts upon it’s recipients.
I’ve never said that any museum is strictly run by cis white men. My point is that the patriarchy and racism are real and lead to unconscious biases that we should be cautious of. Many museums have not done enough in being reflective of their own history and the history of the material they present (e.g. museums that present stolen artifacts from former colonies). I’ve never talked about censorship either, but rather getting a dialogue going between museums and their community. You projected a lot onto my comment there. Maybe you should think about what you’re defensive about here.
To add to this, I think it is important to keep in mind that what a museum or anybody else sees as a worthwhile message is very subjective. And through society’s biased lens this is often art by white cis men. Many of whom are seen as geniuses while being discriminatory or abusive to others, even in their message. But since the dominant culture is to only see these men as geniuses, their problematic behavior usually gets ignored. On the flipside, a lot of geniuses that aren’t white cis men are often completely left out and ignored. And this although their message is probably even more worthy of our attention because they actually experienced hardships that many white cis men never would have.
I don’t think it is a necessarily good idea to let museums have the choice alone what is a worthwhile message just because I don’t trust them to be reflective of the above. Museums should also be in dialogue with their community and what they deem worthwhile to present. (However this also opens the door to conservative bigots trying to prohibit anything remotely progressive.)
I’m not going to agree with you on this. I think it’s unfortunate that your focus is on the assumption that it’s a purely white and cis male dominated decision; without providing any evidence that the museum is run strictly by cis white men.
Furthermore, you focus on problematic behavior; which is important to document completely if we are trying to present that history in a complete and educational manner that allows us to avoid repeating past mistakes. There should be no room for censorship in education, because that’s how bigotry, racism and such will breed…in the shadows of ignorance that the censorship casts upon it’s recipients.
I’ve never said that any museum is strictly run by cis white men. My point is that the patriarchy and racism are real and lead to unconscious biases that we should be cautious of. Many museums have not done enough in being reflective of their own history and the history of the material they present (e.g. museums that present stolen artifacts from former colonies). I’ve never talked about censorship either, but rather getting a dialogue going between museums and their community. You projected a lot onto my comment there. Maybe you should think about what you’re defensive about here.